Nothing is what it seems
by judjolie
Summary: Danny is a murdersuspect. The team tries to clear him, especially Aiden. COMPLETED
1. Default Chapter

CHAPTER ONE:

**AN:** This is my first CSI New York fiction, I hope you like it. Please R&R  it's a bit short, but the next chapter will be a bit longer, I promise.

A tired Aiden sat down next to her oven where her delicious lasagne was warming up. She became more relaxed when she started to smell the sent of the warm Italian dish. She had been looking forward to her dinner all day especially since it was such a hard one: a 6 year old girl was found raped and murdered in her own garden. At first she had to process the body and later in company of detective Flack, tell the young girl's parents the devastating news. It was a heartbreaking scene and it definitely made her rethink her choice of wanting children someday. Anyway she was more determined than ever to find the man responsible for the crime and she did. It turned out to be the guy who lived next door. It was the first time they were able to solve a case that quick but then again every one of the team was working on the case and they had a lot of luck.

After getting her dinner out of the oven, she went to her living room and watched some tv. She almost fell asleep when she heard someone knock on her door a few times. She wondered who it could, it was already 1.30 am. When she opened her door she was surprised to see Danny standing on her doorstep. His shirt was missing some of it's buttons and was torn at his sleeve and shoulder. He also had a head wound, his lip and knuckles were bleeding. He definitely had been in a fight. "I hope I didn't wake you."

"Oh my God, Danny? What happened? Are you okay?" She moved his chin up so she could take a closer look at the scratch in his neck. Then she took him by the arm, let him in and made him sit on her couch. While she was fetching some bandages, ointment and other things he told her what happened.

"I was out with this beautiful girl and everything went well till her ex- boyfriend shows up. They start yelling at each other." Aiden sat on her knees in front of him and started to wipe away the blood from his mouth. "Auw" Aiden apologized and went on while Danny kept telling the story. "So I interfered. I wasn't going to but he wanted to get physical. So I tried to calm him down, instead he punches me. When I punch him back Stephanie, the girl gets angry with me for hitting her ex- boyfriend, then she hits me and takes off."

"Quit the night" Aiden winked and gave her college a comforting smile. She continued to take care of him. "Anyway…" a silent pause fell "Thank you for.. you know"

"I know" she replied. " Maybe you should go to the hospital to get some stitches." But Danny shook his head and said that a bandage would do. After she finished and putted everything back where it belonged she took a seat next to him. But not before she gave him a boxershort and a clean t-shirt which he happily accepted. It meant that he could stay the night with the girl that he really, really wanted.

They sat there for more than an half an hour, just watching tv when Aiden moved closer to Danny. He rapped his arm around her and she let her head rest in his neck where she fell asleep. It was Danny that carried her to bed and tucked her in. He stayed with her for a while just looking how she slept before he went back to her couch and got some sleep of his own.

Somewhere not far from where Aiden lived, a body of a young girl was discovered in a garbage container …


	2. chapter two

**CHAPTER TWO: **

**AN: Thanks for the reviews. I hope you'll like the next chapter**

**I'm sorry it took so long but I had to prepare for my exams and I still am… **

**awesomepossum****, You are right: I wasn't clear about that: They don't know that the ex- boyfriend is the witness. He gave them another identity.**

By the time Danny woke up Aiden had already left for work. She left him a note saying where he could find everything necessary to have breakfast. There wasn't much time to enjoy his breakfast. Mac had called and ordered him to process a crime scene with Aiden but he still needed to go home and change which made him utterly late. When he finally arrived Aiden had already processed a big part of the area and he just needed to check the victim in case she had missed something.

When Danny uncovered the body he froze and had a hard time not to vomit. Flack teased him with it but Aiden saw there was more to it. "Danny? Are you okay? Hey, look at me. What's wrong?" She asked him concerned. After 2 minutes of silence he enlightened his partner.

"That's uhm Stephanie." He said softly, but just loud enough for her to hear. "You mean the girl from last night?" He looked at her and nodded.

She let her hand rest on his shoulder and smiled comforting at him. "I'll process her, go home" Danny shook his head, saying he didn't want to go home. He wanted to know what happened to her and if he could have prevented it. He closely watched how Aiden took blond short hair, probably his, from the girl's sweater and how she removed some dirt from under her fingernails,…

In the mean time Mac arrived and was brought up to speed by detective Flack . Stella didn't think it would be a good idea to let Danny keep working the case, but Mac wanted to give him the chance to prove his competence in a case in which he's familiar with the victim.

"If there's anything call me and don't forget: you report to Aiden on this one." That were the last words Mac said to Danny before he went to his own crime scene uptown. Before Mac could reach his car Aiden stopped him, also asking him if maybe Danny should be removed of the case but Mac told Aiden the same thing, he told Stella. Plus he had full confidence in the younger CSI. She knew her boss didn't know the entire story and he didn't gave her the chance to tell them. Since he already lost much time, he told her they'd talk about it later and till then Danny was aloud to work the case.

And everything seemed to go well until Stephanie's ex- boyfriend came forward as a witness and gave a testimony, which turned Danny into a suspect. So Flack had no other choice but to go and interrogate his friend. Under normal circumstances he would have cuffed Danny but since he believed in his innocence, Flack just quietly asked to follow him to the station for a statement. After several hours Danny was released only to get suspended by Mac. Although he knew it was standard procedure it didn't make it less painful…

"Can I talk to you for a minute" Aiden looked up from her microscope to see an angry Mac standing in front of her. He was just back from the police station where he had followed the interrogation. Aiden took a deep breath and walked up to him. He started to talk in a raised voice "What were you thinking Aiden? Why didn't you tell me he was that involved?"

"Hey hey. I tried to tell you remember, you said it could wait and by the way he isn't that involved. He just knew the girl"

"He just knew the girl. We have a witness Aiden, that says Danny was last seen arguing with the victim." He said in a more calm voice. He rubbed his eyes and apologized to his co- worker. Then he asked "What have you got."

"The 5 hairs I found are of three different colors. One of them did match Danny's hair, which is normal since he was in her company, right." She asked hesitating, Mac nodded. "There were traces of garbage due to the dumpster she was found in. Just besides the hair, I couldn't find anything that could lead to Danny as her killer."

"Besides that and the guy's testimony. I'll go talk to him again." He made his way to the door then stopped & ordered Aiden to go and see Flack. She looked confused at the beginning but then she responded by saying nothing happened. Mac smiled and left searching for Stella.

"Stella ,I've been looking for you. I need you to take over the Stephanie Rossi case." Her happy face turned into a confused one. "I thought Aiden was handling the case."

"She is, but I want you to take the lead. Apparently Danny spent the night at her house after he got into a fight with the victim's ex- boyfriend. I would have taken her off the case if I wasn't short on personnel"

"Okay, no problem, have you got any luck with the boyfriend yet?"

"No, conveniently no one can tell me his identity. Her family says she's been single for as long as they can remember, her friends say the same thing. Still Aiden finds 5 short different hairs on her clothes. And according to Harper, she knew her attacker. Something is not right here Stella…"


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

**An: Thanks for the nice reviews. I'm sorry that it took so long to update, but I had to work and I have had exams … Hope you like it.**

Danny was staring at a mother walking with her young son. Aiden walked up to him and gave him a cup of coffee, she made for him. He gladly accepted the coffee, took a quick sip and kept staring at the kid. "Sometimes I wish I was that young again." Aiden smiled. "thinking there's no bad in the world, nothing to be worried about, no…"

"No nothing" Aiden finishes his sentence, which made him turn towards her.

"So, you went to see Flack?" he asked in a serious but soft voice. Aiden nodded and said she told him everything she knew. What time Danny came to see her, how long he stayed,…

"I can't believe this is happening Aiden. I mean, just yesterday I was informed of maybe getting promoted and now it's all down the drain."

"No it's not Danny" She tried to comfort her friend, but she knew he was right. Guilty or not, it doesn't matter, it would surely end up in his file. Still she tried to reassure him. "Hey, we'll get you cleared. But if there's anything that could help, if there's something you want to tell me that you haven't already."

"What's that suppose to mean?" he didn't even give her time to explain it. "Danny, I didn't..Danny" He got into his car and left at a high speed.

Later that day Stella came to see how Aiden was holding up. She knew how frustrating it was to try to clear someone you care about and not finding the right evidence. But before she could reach her office, she ran into Mac.

"Stella, got a minute?"

"What's up? Any news?"

"I still haven't found the mysterious ex boyfriend. And guess what. Our witness has vanished without a trace as well."

"Hmm, what are you thinking?"

"I don't know: or there really is an ex boyfriend that paid a visit to our witness and he got spooked or .."

"No, Mac no. This is Danny we're talking about." "I know" Stella could see how this case was getting to Mac. Because he was the one who always had faith in Danny, even when Danny screwed up once, Mac kept believing in him.

"You getting any sleep?" she asked concerned, as she always did when she noticed he wasn't feeling himself. Or when he got involved with a case. Just as he was about to answer her, his phone rang.

"One of the hairs matched a Steven Vaughn. Apparently he did some time for beating up his former girlfriend."

"Could be the ex boyfriend"

"Could be our killer." Stella nodded and while she left for Aiden, Mac went to pick Steven up with the help of detective Flack."

Knock knock

"Yeah." Aiden yelled while she was going over the evidence again. "Any news?"

"No not yet, but that's not why I came." She looked confused at her superior.

"How are you holding up?" Stella asked in a soft and caring voice, like she wanted Aiden to hear in her voice, she could trust her and tell her how she really felt but Aiden answered

"I'm fine" a pause fell then she went on. "No, actually I'm far from fine. I… I don't know what to think. I mean I know Danny's innocent, he would never hurt someone he…I…I know he's innocent."

Stella slowly approached her and laid her arm around her, telling Aiden, that everything would be okay and that she believed he was innocent. The moment was interrupted by a phone call from Mac, telling her they weren't able to find Steven yet but they were able to connect Stephanie with him.

"That was Mac, they haven't found Steven yet, but there is a firm connection between Steven and Stephanie so, it's look for Danny."

Aiden arrived a half hour after the phone call from the bartender, telling her that Danny was very, very drunk and he wasn't in any condition to get home by himself.

She took a deep breath, then she entered and pulled Danny, who was chatting with two beautiful girls, aside. "What the hell are you doing, you need to clear headed now" Danny looked confused and took another sip from his drink. Aiden could feel her blood pumping in her veins. She took his drink from his hands and gave it back to the bartender.

"I didn'tt finished that yet." But she gave him a very angry look "Okay, no problem. I did, I'll just order a new one." He laughed at her and yelled for another drink but the man behind the bar wouldn't give him any.

"We're going." Aiden pulled his arm and made him follow her but first he wanted to give the two girls, he met that night a kiss, which made her even more furious. "I'm sorry ladies, I have to listen to the mrs." And he pointed at Aiden.

By the time they arrived at Danny's apartment, Danny still wasn't sober. She had to help him with the stairs and with getting the door open. Once inside Danny started to babble guilty he felt about what happened. Aiden stepped closer and tried for the second time to comfort him. They starred in each other eyes and suddenly Danny didn't seem to be so drunk anymore. He let his hands rest on her shoulders and kissed her. Aiden participated for a minute, then realized he was drunk so she pulled away. "You're drunk" She said but Danny wouldn't let her go yet. " I love you"

Aiden smiled and told him to get some sleep. By the door Danny kissed her again, still claiming to love her. "Danny stop it." But still he didn't want to let her go. He didn't want to be alone, but the truth is he was so drunk he didn't know what he was doing anymore. It took a slap from her hand to realize that.

"I'm sorry" He said in his most genuine voice. "It's okay" She helped him into bed and stayed the entire night, holding his hand.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

I'm sorry it took forever to write the next chapter. I hope you'll still like it!

The next morning Danny woke up with the most painful headache, he ever experienced. Slowly he tried to move but he felt someone resting on his chest which made him ever more uncomfortable since he couldn't remember what he did the night before. It took him a few minutes to realize Aiden's presence. He managed to get out of bed and get a shower without waking her up. Now it was his turn to leave her a note saying where she could find everything in order to have a good breakfast. Then he left for the lab but not before giving her a kiss on her forehead which awoken her just long enough to smile at him and fall back to sleep.

On his way to work Danny noticed someone entering a building, looking very familiar to Stephanie's ex- boyfriend. He pulled over a bit further down the street just to be safe, he opened his door doubting whether he should call for back- up or not. He decided not to call directly but to leave a message at Mac's answering machine at work saying: he was following up on a lead namely her ex- boyfriend. But he failed to leave any kind of direction or address.

Using a false name Danny entered the building and searched for the concierge, hoping he could provide him with the necessary information.

"You're late." Aiden heard Stella say. She took a deep breath and turned around. "I know, I'm sorry. I just went.."

"Looking for Danny" Stella finished her sentence. All Aiden could do was nodding her head. "And from the look on your face you still haven't found him."

"No. It's just I'm worried about him. Last night he got so drunk, he couldn't walk on his own anymore, that's just not like him!. I've never seen him so down. And I really want to help him but I can't see how."

"Just being there is enough, believe me. And I'm sure he's really grateful, at least he should be! You're a big support to him. It will be okay"

Stella gave her younger colleague a big supporting hug.

"I got a lead on Steven Vaughn" They heard Mac say, who felt like a big burden had just fallen from his shoulders. "Flack and I are going over there right now."

Without saying a word both Stella and Aiden were following him to his car. Mac didn't want either of them to go but he had no time to argue and having Aiden there could come in handy since he suspected to find Danny there.

Knock, knock

"What" Steven yelled while sipping from his 3rd beer. His place was full of empty beer bottles, his clothes were filthy and all over the place. It seemed like it hadn't been cleaned in 5 years or even more.

Now, Danny kept on knocking. "What? Gd damnt, just hold on, I'm coming" He kept cursing all the way to his door. Paranoid as he is, he looked through the hole in the door first, but when he saw no one, he decided to open the door, a big mistake.

Danny pushed the door against Steven's head, which knocked him down and made him spill his beer all over his filthy carpet.

"Remember me" Danny yelled, "huh. Remember me? I'm the guy whose life you ruined!." "You" Steven responded. They looked at each other for a moment before Steven punched Danny. Danny could taste the blood in his mouth which made him even more furious.

In the meantime Mac and Flack arrived at the apartment at the same time. But it was Aiden who noticed Danny's car as first. "He's here." She said to Mac, who could read the concern in her eyes. He always knew there was chemistry between them, but this was bigger, this wasn't just chemistry but also love. He recognized himself when Stella was in an accident once, not so long ago. That was the first time he realized he was in love with her and he was sure that was how Aiden felt right now. He wanted to say sometime to reassure her but a gunshot fell.

All four ran up the stairs as fast as they could with their gun drawn.

Few minutes earlier

After being knocked down for the second time, Danny stayed down just long enough to give Steven the time to grab his gun. "Okay, take it easy, just easy" He said trying to calm a hot headed Steven down. In a moment where the ex- boyfriend wasn't paying attention, Danny managed to grab the gun. Both were fighting for it and couldn't prevent the thing from going off.

…


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

Mac was the first to enter and to see, what seemed lifeless bodies. He tried to prevent Aiden from going in the bloody, smelly apartment but he failed. They both just stood there for a minute until they heard a quiet groan. Danny slowly regained conscientiousness . Aiden kneeled down next to Danny and helped him sit up straight. "You're okay" she said while tears were running down her soft cheeks. Mac let out a sigh of relief as well. He looked at his two colleagues then turned around to smile at Flack. "He's okay." Flack nodded "He's the only one". Steven didn't move or made any kind of noise and well his body was covered in blood.

"Let's get you to a hospital." Mac told his younger, eager colleague. Danny nodded, slowly got un his feet and walked through the door with Aiden's help. Although he wasn't hurt that bad it would do him good to get checked out. His lip was still bleeding and he probably needed some stitches elsewhere. Once in the ambulance, he let his guard down and let his head rest on Aiden's shoulder, who was still trying not to cry too much.

Back at the lab, Stella was waiting impatiently for more news. She was relieved to see a happy Mac. "He's okay?" She asked, he smiled at her and responded. "He's okay." Now both of them couldn't help but to smile at each other. "Hmm Stella…" Mac started and as usual he waited a minute before he continued. "I was wondering… maybe if you want to grab a bite?"

"I'd love that." She grabbed Mac's arm and let him lead the way.

At the hospital the nurse was still stitching Danny up. She even flirted with him, something Aiden didn't really appreciate so Aiden kept putting up her angry face. "I'll leave you two, to it then." The nurse smiled and left as quickly as she could.

"So.." "So.." Both didn't really knew what to say now. Danny had been through an emotional rollercoaster the last few days and Aiden well, she felt like she had let him down. So she didn't know whether he would appreciate her company or wouldn't. She wanted to tell him so badly that she loved him and how scared she was when the gunshot fell and she didn't know whether he was okay or hurt. She decided to take a chance and asked if wanted to grab dinner. "I'd love that."

Not so far from the hospital Stella and Mac were enjoying their meal. Enjoying… Mac seemed to be a bit quiet. So just as usual Stella asked him what was on his mind but for the first time Mac opened up to her from the first time. And she was happy he did. "It's just, cases like this, when it concerns one of your own, a colleague a friend.. It makes you realize how short life is and how you should spend as much time as possible with the person that means the world to you." Mac slowly moved his hand & let it rest on hers.

Stella felt her cheeks turn into bright red, yes she was blushing. She waited so long for this moment, after playing it in her head so many times before she still didn't quite know how to react. Just as she wanted to say something nice back, he silenced her with a long expected kiss.

"You sure you don't mind if I take a shower first." "No, that's okay" Danny smiled. "You know there's something I want to tell you." She took a few steps closer, so now she was only a few inches away from Danny who was curious what she wanted to tell him that couldn't wait.

"I just want to apologize for the past days." "Apologize, Aiden, if there's one who should apologize it's me. I'm the one who…" "sh" She placed her finger on his mouth and looked deep into his eyes. Danny's ringing cell phone broke their contact. He smiled uncomfortable and immediately turned his phone off. "Sorry about that." Again they stared at one an other but this time he leaned in and kissed her passionately.

Aiden was the first to break the kiss. "Danny.. I -.. I need to get a shower." She left Danny standing in her living room and left for the bathroom where she turned the water on. Before she went in the bathroom she turned around and looked invitingly at Danny. 'Does she want me to follow her.' He thought to himself. 'God, help me. I should follow, what's the worst that could happen. Well she could laugh in my face, hmm I'll take my chances.' He smiled and entered the bathroom as quiet as he could.

He started to kiss her wet shoulder which she enjoyed a lot. Then she turned around and kissed his neck, cheek and his lips. Danny slowly let his hands slide on her back. Danny broke the kiss, put a stroke of hair behind her ear and asked if she was sure. Aiden smiled, kissed him again an started to unbutton his shirt…

THE END


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